A Mirror In The Heart
by butimbroken
Summary: Buffy/Angel. AU. The former couple run into one another at a doctor's office. COMPLETE.


They're all Joss'.

Buffy finished setting up the next appointment, then she walked over to where her son was sitting at one of the small tables. She tried to get him up to go, but he insisted she sit and look at him playing with some of the toys.

Buffy smiled, then went around him to one of the tiny empty chairs and lowered herself next to him to ooh and ahh at everything he was doing.

When he finally got bored, she offered for them to stop by McDonald's on the way home, which got him excited about leaving. She wasn't in a habit of taking her son out for fast food, but every once in awhile they would stop off at some drive-thru. And it sounded better than going home to cook something after this long day, too.

Buffy stood, reaching down to grab her purse, then her son's hand they began heading for the door.

They'd only taken a couple of steps when it opened, a slight bell noise going off. Her head looked up with a smile to greet whomever it was, but it quickly fell when she saw her ex, Angel Matthews, walk inside. He was carrying a car seat that had his infant daughter inside and his wife Darla trailed behind. From the sound of it, she was complaining about something or another.

Buffy rolled her eyes. She couldn't think of time when Darla wasn't. Except maybe when dripping with fake sincerity like she was about to.

"Oh, Buffy," the other blonde greeted, a tight smile on her face. "Child," she said looking briefly at the boy standing at his mother's side.

"Darla," Buffy greeted back, her own tight smile on her face.

Angel looked between them, not saying anything, then turned downward the front desk to speak with the lady there, letting her know they were there.

"Hey, Angel," the little boy called, excited.

Buffy always felt her stomach go funny when the two of them were around. Like somehow they'd realize the truth.

The tall, broody man turned around. "What's up, Champ?" he asked, smiling.

The boy smiled, beginning to go into an excited tale of his life's events lately, but Darla stepped in before he could even come close to finishing. "Dear," she touched Angel's arm, "they were on their way out. We wouldn't want to keep them. Let's go sit over there."

He gave a sad look down. "We'll catch up next time, okay?"

It didn't phase the boy, he just smiled and said he hoped that'd be soon.

"Me, too," Angel told him then started walking off.

Buffy let out a huge breath. "You ready," she asked, then continued on their way out.

Buffy couldn't have told you a thing of what her four and a half year old was saying to her as they rode the small elevator back down to the main floor. Her thoughts were somewhere else.

Back on the day she found out she was pregnant, knowing her ex-boyfriend was without a question the father. She and Angel had gone through a messy break-up but she had thought he still deserved to know.

Once she gathered up the courage to face him, she'd gone over to his place only to find herself told off before she even got a word out of her mouth. He didn't even give her the chance. And after that, she didn't even want to bother.

She'd gotten herself a part-time job to try and help get some money saved up, and that was where she'd met Riley. He was nice and sweet, she found herself in love with him, though it was a very different kind than what she'd shared with her former lover. But it was nice. She'd told him before they even talked about dating that she was pregnant, giving him the whole story one night they were stuck working late.

She found herself surprised one night with Riley asking her if she would marry him, asking for her to let him be the father. She'd been so taken back at first, having no idea what to even say. She later agreed though.

Nobody thought anything of it when she started to show. Angel had done a good job of making the town believe she'd been cheating on him while they'd still been together. Everyone just put two and two together.

It seemed it never even passed anyone's mind of the child being her ex's. And she wasn't going to push it.

Angel had asked her once though. And it had caught her off guard.

They were at a party, her with Riley, him with his then-fiancee, Darla. She found herself sneaking off to check on her baby several times who was off in a designated children's area, and one of those trips back he was standing in the hallway.

"He looks like me," he had said, before taking a drink of his dark colored alcohol of choice that evening.

Buffy felt so many emotions go through her in that moment. And, "Well, he's not," came flying out of her mouth before she even knew it.

Nothing else had been said between them that night, and it was never brought up again.

He and Darla married a few months later.

And now they had a beautiful little girl, Buffy believed to be between four and five months now.

Her son's half-sister. Not that anyone else but she and Riley would ever know.


End file.
